Living the simple life in Princeton has offered us rewards that I would like to share with all who care to stop in and see. From natures outdoor beauty to indoor cooking and everything in between. Welcome to my very special world in rural Wisconsin.

Summer view

A View From Our Deck

Saturday, July 12, 2014

An Update To My Zote Soap Laundry Detergent

Today I'm doing an update to a previous post. More than a year ago I wrote how I make my own laundry detergent using Zote soap.

This method works great, but Zote soap is a little difficult to grind fine enough. It is a very soft bar soap so it sticks to the grater or blender blades. It has to be ground up with the borax and washing soda to keep it from getting sticky. Once incorporated, it stays as dry as any powdered laundry detergent.

Recently a friend of mine (Barb I.) sent me a link for another method for making detergent. It is the same recipe I use for powdered detergent, but this process is easier for me. Here is the link that prompted this blog post. It gives complete specific instructions. She uses Fels Naptha soap which works very well too. Zote needs a little more water to get smooth and creamy.

The first thing I did was cut the pink Zote into cubes. I put the cubes into 2 one quart jars.

Then I filled the jars with hot water and let them sit for several hours. Actually I let them sit overnight. This softens the soap cubes even more.

For those who don't know this, some blender blades fit on a mason jar. I learned this from reading an article about making your own smoothies without buying a fancy Magic Bullet. It works with the regular mouth jar (shown on the left).

Then add the borax and washing soda (1 cup of each total) and blend. It makes a soft fluffy soap that dissolves in the washer. You can leave the soap in the jar and use it that way. If you don't have a blender blade that fits on a jar, then you will have to transfer the soap into your blender. It works fine but the creamy soap isn't easy to get out of the blender jar. I did one of each and much prefer the method that stays in the jar.

The only secret is DO NOT PUT SOAP IN SOAP DISPENSER. PUT SOAP DIRECTLY IN THE TUB. I have a front loading washing machine, and I put 1Tablespoon of fluffy soap directly on the clothes.

The finished product looks like fruit fluff.

I love the smell of this soap and it cleans very well. Next time I will only make a half batch. One quart jar of this soap lasts my family a very long time using only 1 Tablespoon at a time. I hope you like it too. I still use the soap nuts but switch off using this. White clothes get clean with the soap nuts but they seem a little dingy and need brightning up. The Zote soap does that.